I'm about 3 weeks behind on this thing - now in Georgia and heading into Azerbaijan in a few days.

Sighasoara, Romania

AKA the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (AKA Vlad the Impaler) is a quaint medieval town with badly cobbled streets and few tourist attractions. We were fortunate enough to have absolutely stunning weather so spent the afternoon relaxing at a bar, catching some sun and sipping homemade lemonade. Would I go back? If the weather was nice, probably.

My top tips:

1. When visiting the clock tower, time your arrival with that of a big American tour group. Free entry! I would have felt a bit ripped off if I'd paid for the experience, though the 18th century Enema kit and Gynacologist's bag are not to be missed.

2. Avoid Jo's Pub. The seats are uncomfortable. Try the one next door. It has funky toilets as well.

3. Don't wear any sort of heel or flip flops to walk around in. You will trip over the uneven cobbles and you will regret your inappropriate footwear choices. I lost half a big toenail!

Top 5 Camping Essentials (besides the obvious tent, sleeping bag, etc)

1. Hot Water Bottle- A small half-sized one is all you need to keep your toes warm until you fall asleep and then to keep your hands warm on early mornings.
2. Headtorch - Everyone in London laughed at me but I'm seriously considering making the headtorch part of my everyday life.
3. She-Wee - Monica bought one and now all the girls are jealous of her newfound ability to pee standing up.
4. Babywipes - or as I like to refer to them, adult wipes. Perfect for cleaning your hands after packing up a wet and muddy tent or for those days when you just can't get to a shower.
5. Loo paper - For when the babywipes run out. Which they will.

Romania rules

How to do Romania, step by step instructions for the wary traveller:

1. Travel in from the Hungarian border.

2. Marvel at the building work. There seems to be only one builder in Romania and he doesn't have a ladder. Instead, he just builds the first floor and leaves the next three empty. He also enjoys buildıng random buildings that no one is ever going to use. If he makes a mistake, no worries! He just picks up his stuff (sans ladder) and moves 20metres to the left and starts again.

3. Sit outside your house, preferably next to your letterbox, and watch the world go by. If you're lucky you'll see a big blue truck full of people on their way to Australia!

4. Do not provide travellers with any trees to hide in when going to the toilet at bush camp. Instead, make them walk 1km up a hill to find any. Up a hill full of frogs and potholes. In the dark. Oh and I forgot my torch. Again.

5. Bribe a local farmer with some Czech beer and an Odyssey tshirt to set up camp on his land.

6. Find out that it isn't really his land and watch him walk away with the beer and a sly grin on his face.

7. Play football with the local kids on a steep slope, with your goal being uphill.

8. Look up. I haven't seen stars like that since I was a kid!

9. Do the gorge walk at Cheile Turzii. It's gorg(eous)! Make sure you take off your thermal pants first.

10. Make sure the campground ın Sıghasoara is closed so you can stay in a hotel for the night. I recommend Hotel Rex. It's orange!

11. Lemonade. In a jug. So tasty!

12. Enjoy the sunshine! Chillax!

Buda and a little bit of Pest, Hungary

Stop 5 on our whistlestop tour of Europe was Budapest in Hungary. We had a rather cool campsite where each tent was pitched on a different terrace. A long way to fall down the concrete steps in the middle of the night if you needed the loo though! It was Debbie's birthday so Cook Group 1 (Me, Emma, Alex, Tee and Le) were up bright and early whisking eggs and frying potatos. Turning 35 eggs into scramble in the one pot made me a bit nauseous. I don't recommend it! The end result was pretty tasty though and the gang was ready to face a day in Budapest. We were blessed with fantastic weather and I even managed to get a bit of a tan. First stop was Parliament with the obligatory tacky tourist shot:

We then got super lost trying to find the Holocaust Memorial along the banks of the Danube. Cheryl had marked it wrong on the map but the detour meant I got to chat to a crazy old fisherman who spoke no English but wanted to tell me all about the fish he had caught that morning.

We got there in the end! It is a memorial to the Jews who were shot into the Danube during WWII. Bronze castings of empty shoes on the Pest side pointing towards Buda.

Hungary brought out the big guns in terms of crazy (and politically incorrect!) foods.

Debbie and I wandered around trying to find a cake shop for her birthday and accidentally stumbled onto Fisherman's Bastion and the gorgeous church there. Unfortunately most of it was covered in scaffolding but what you could see of the roof tiles was amazing. They looked like a tapestry.

Cake shop. Result! The highlight was possibly the cherry strudel that Alex bought and very sweetly got the shop to cut up into small pieces for all of us to share. Yum!

We slowly headed back to Pest to meet the rest of the troops for birthday drinks. When I say slowly, I mean slowly because we were caught up in the middle of a critical mass rally - hundreds of bikes! Everywhere!

Eventually we made it back (well, some of us!) for dinner and Alan's silly drinking games. One fat hen. A couple of ducks.

On the road again.

I'm currently chillaxing on the comfiest sofa in the world in Hotel Rex, Sighasohara, Romania. I've had breakfast on proper china plates, a nice hot shower, a sleep on an actual matress so am trying to drag it out as much as possible before the bush camping begins again tonight. I love bush camping. You just have to give a local farmer a beer and a tshirt and you can sleep where you like! Even if it's not his land!

I'll type up some blog entries on the truck and upload them soon but in the meantime, here, have some photos.

1. Tournai, Belgium - first night in a tent in 10 years!; 2. Koln, Germany - 45 minute walk into town? Try 2 and a half hours!; 3. Koln, Germany; 4. Koln, Germany - Sion Baurhaus; 5. Rachel threw her Bum Bum away, I soldiered on with the Hello Kitty ice cream but regretted it later; 6. It's a truck, not a bus.

It's been one week...

Is it really Sunday? It feels like it's still Wednesday but also like I've been on the road for the past five years. Yesterday we had breakfast in the Czech Republic, lunch in Slovakia and dinner in Hungary. You can't really blame me for getting confused!

I'm currently enjoying the free wifi that Camping Niche in Budapest has to offer. Everyone seems to have brought tiny little laptops with them on this trip. Handy for long days on the road but not much use at camping sites with intermittent wifi.

So far I've ticked off Tournai, Belgium; Cologne and Bamberg, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic and Budapest, Hungary. Tomorrow the plan is to drive as far as possible, set up camp in the bush somewhere (where I will remain forever jealous of Monica's 'She-Wee' and spend the entire 24 hours trying to avoid going to the toilet in the bushes), cook over a fire and try not to get eaten by wild animals/cannibals/gypsies.

Steve has a theory that we'll love cities where we had great weather and dislike cities we have bad weather in. So far I've loved everywhere but it's certainly true that I enjoyed Bamberg and Budapest in the sunshine far more than Prague in the drizzle.

As I've hijacked Emma's laptop, I'd better make this quick:

Tournai, Belgium - all I saw was Tournai at night time, after walking through the bush and dodgy looking backroads for 40mins to get there but somehow took over an hour to get back (this may not be true, I was desperate for the loo so my perception of time may be a bit exagerrated). Alex decided to tell us all about the amazing chips they have in Belgium so I just remember being hungry for most of my time in Belgium. Camping was...interesting. But no rain!

Cologne, Germany - Tim assured us that it was a 45min walk into town (are you noticing a theme here?). Two and a half hours later... The Dom was amazing though and well worth the trek. The toilets at the cafe were possibly the highlight of the trip so far. Dinner at Sion Baurhaus was delish.

Bamberg, Germany - sunshine. That is all I remember. SUNSHINE after 2 days of driving through thick fog. Also, the campsite had awesome showers. You actually got your own little room! It's the little things... It was also in Bamberg that Debbie revealed her Backgammon Skillz. Many backgammon games were played by headtorch light.

Prague, Czech Republic - The campsite was lush - green grass, rolling fields, WIFI (for the brief two seconds it actually worked). And then it rained. Prague was a beautiful city but I was disappointed that you had to pay to get into absolutely everything. Tourist city!

Budapest, Hungary - Mostly Buda, but a little bit of Pest. Possibly my favourite so far. I even got a little bit sunburnt! Castle Hill was gorgeous. We found a cute little cake shop for Debbie's birthday and stocked up on delicious cakes. Then the stampede of cyclists appeared and followed us all the way from Castle Hill to Fat Mo's Pub in Pest. Awesome campsite with little terraces, free wifi and a camping-in-the-jungle-in-south-east-asia feel to it.

Now I just have to repack my rucksack for the umpteenth time before we hit the road again tomorrow heading for Romania. Starting to regret buying that jewellery box...and present for Celeste...and the fridge magnets....and babushka doll....Mum & Dad - I'm sending stuff home from Istanbul! Be on the lookout!

Backgammon update: Debbie taught Alan and Emma some sneaky new moves while I was involved in a Connect 4 tournament (I lost. Five times.). So I'm struggling to catch up. I've become a bit competitive - if I lose Backgammon is the worst game ever invented and there is foot stomping involved. Can't wait to buy a fancypants set in Istanbul!

Snack food update: Safari Cheetos (cheetos in the shape of jungle animals) are rubbish and everything is paprika flavoured in Europe (and I love it!). In Hungary they have a brand of mint called 'Negro' with pictures of African slaves tolling the fields. I'm not sure they realise how wrong that is.

Photos to come. I almost left my camera on a bus in Budapest today! Then I dropped it! I can't wait to sleep in a proper bed again. I think it's affecting my sanity, all this sleeping bag business.

Joggers, toilets and mud

Right now I'm sitting in a net cafe in Bamberg, Germany surrounded by rather creepy chenille curtains and using what is possibly the only surviving computer monitor circa 1994. All of the keys are back to front and it requires a nifty combination of about 5 keys just to put the @ symbol in. But I'm loving every minute of it!

Our truck is called Calypso and is a beast! I have grand plans to read all of the books in the well-stocked library but I don't like my chances. There is far too much relaxing in our executive chairs (take that, orange truck!) to be done.

On Sunday we left rainy London for sunny Dover and hopped on a ferry (take note, Brisbane citycats! You have a long waz to go to reach true ferry status!) over to Calais, France. From there it was a few hours on to our first night in Tornai, Belgium where I spent the whole night kept awake with nightmares of being back on school camp.

In all seriousness, camping isn't too bad. After three years in London I'm actually enjoying the bugs, mud and midnight dashes to the loo. No, really.

There seem to be a few themes developing on this trip, which I'm sure will come up time and time again in this blog.

1. Truck-stop snacks: Haribo's entire back catalogue of jelly sweets, Jogger's (jelly lollies in the shape of sneakers), Bifi Bites (my new personal favourite) ... who can find the weirdest?

2. Backgammon: Emma has been teaching us all how to play. It is my new obsession. Mostly I'm just pleased that I don't have to skip over it on my mobile phone now. Last year Sudoku, this year Backgammon. Maybe next year I'll finally figure out how to play golf. The running tally of backgammon so far is something like:
Emma 10,000 wins
Alan almost 10,000 wins
me 3 wins
Alex 1 win (but it was a good one and allowed him to finally go to bed. And Alan most certainly did not take over and play most of the game himself. Promise.)

3. Toilets of the world: The best so far was at a cafe in Cologne overlooking the cathedral. Words do not describe. The doors went from transparent to frosted when you locked them. I don't think they need any more explanation. It was love at first sight.

The temperature here in Bamberg is gorgeous so I'm off to catch some more sunshine.

Photos to come, once I figure out what 'resize' is in German. Or Czech. Or Hungarian. Or Turkish.

And would someone please tell me where the question mark key is _§$%? Oh, found it.

The Swag

I'm pretty sure I've overpacked. I've managed to scale down the clothes but my toiletries bag still seems to weigh a tonne.

Toiletries are the ultimate backpacker's dilemma (in my world, at least!). Do you pop down to boots and buy a giant bottle of 2 in 1 OR use six months on the road as an excuse to finally use all those hotel shampoos you've been hoarding for the past five years.

I opted for the latter.

Now that the hideous packing task is out of the way, I'm left with this:

Apparantly this thing can fit 65+10L. It's not too bad once it's on my back thanks to the snazzy lumbar support I paid the big bucks for, but getting it from floor to shoulder is another story entirely. I'm banking on the fact that we're all going to look a bit stupid trying to hoist our rucksacks onto our backs.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get my sleeping bag back into that little case again. The last time I tried took a combined effort with Alice, a few cups of chai and a lot of complaining. In the end I threw it in a corner and stared at it with contempt for the rest of the day. Not quite the beginning of the beautiful friendship that I had hoped for!

In fact, my last memory of camping and sleeping bags is finding a scorpion crawling over my friend's bag on grade 10 school camp, which then proceeded to chase me around the tent. While I was still 'wearing' my sleeping bag. An amusing sight for all!

Oh camping. Remind me why I haven't been in touch with you for the past ten years?

Parting is such sweet sorrow

They say everyone hates a goodbye. I disagree. I've never felt so popular with goodbye lunches/dinners/coffees coming out my ears! Not to mention the presents.

Or does this just mean you're all glad to get rid of me?

Two days to go!

How did that happen?!

After months of preparation and impatiently waiting for Sunday to arrive, I'm now wishing I had just a bit more time up my sleeve. It's probably for the best that I'm not able to make one last trip to Superdrug though. Travel sized toiletries will be the death of me!

I've managed to squeeze everything I think I need for six months on the road into my 65L rucksack, sorted out a fancypants new lens for my camera, eaten five times my body weight in food at goodbye lunches and dinners with friends, and shipped all of the stuff I've managed to accumulate in the past few years back to Australia.

If I didn't manage to say a proper goodbye to you before I left, never fear! I'm sure I'll be back in London again soon. Maybe I'll even live here again! And remember, if you ever find yourself on the East Coast of Oz, let me know. A little sunshine never hurt anyone!

Right, time to repack my rucksack for the 2nd time today.

When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don't seem to matter very much, do they?
Night & Day by Virginia Woolf

Just over 10 years ago, I picked up a little book called Into the Wild by John Krakaeur. It sat on my shelf for a few months gathering dust then eventually found its way into my school bag. One morning on a particularly boring bus ride to school, I finally dug it out and started reading. I was instantly hooked and it has remained my favourite book to this day.

I'm sure anyone who has read the book or seen the brilliant film adaptation by Sean Penn knows that it is ultimately a very sad story, but it is also pretty inspiring. In the film version, Christopher McCandless says 'Mr. Franz, I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one.' I'm starting to think he has a point!

I'm so terrified of moving back to Brisbane and being expected to fall into the trap of getting a boyfriend, getting a job, getting married, having babies, getting a dog and spending the rest of my life doing the grocery shopping at Coles on a Saturday morning. I know that sort of life is enough to satisfy some people - and that's great! - but it's never been enough for me.

So far I've managed to escape all of that by running away to London for a few years. I could stay here as long as I want due to my dual citizenship. I'm certainly a lot luckier than some of my friends who have been forced to go back to Brisbane due to the constant revamping of the visa system. But ultimately I work in publishing earning very little money, I live on my own in a beautiful flat that costs far more than I can afford and despite the fact that I hate being seen in public in swimwear, I really REALLY miss the beach. I also really don't want to reach retirement age and look back on my life as a long series of hours spent sitting in an office in front of a computer.

So, in just five and a half weeks, I will be leaving the bright lights and low-lying clouds of London, England behind to head back to Brisbane, Australia, fresh fruit (that hasn't been sitting on the back of a truck in Morocco for 3 weeks before being put on the shelves in Tesco) and sunshine. Only I'm not going by conventional means...

Always one to make life difficult for myself and test my adaptable-to-change attitude, I've decided to get on a truck with a bunch of people I've never met before and spend the next six months travelling overland from London, England to Darwin, Australia.

It frustrates me that some people I meet in London can't seem to see beyond their own existence in London where keeping up with the rat race and having a five year plan seem to be top priority. No, I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get back to Brisbane. No, I haven't got a job lined up yet. No, I still don't know where I want to be in ten years, let alone in ten months.

All I know is that this is what I need to do right now. Whatever happens, happens. A life lived in fear is a life half lived. And all that clichéd jazz.

The Journey

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilisation, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.

- Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island